


Day 1 - Swift

by Madilayn



Series: Inktober 2017 [1]
Category: Battle of the Planets
Genre: Gen, Inktober, Inktober 2017, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 15:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12235311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madilayn/pseuds/Madilayn
Summary: Inktober prompts for 2017.  I am choosing not to draw (because I can't) but to write instead.Day 1 - SwiftDuring battle, time slows down and speeds up - often at the same time.





	Day 1 - Swift

It’s that split second where everything seems to slow down and speed up all at once. Where you see the impending disaster and it’s coming too fast to stop, and yet at the same time every second takes an eon and you move towards the inevitable.

It was like that the first time that we had an enemy mech fire upon us. It was, in effect, our baptism of fire. All had been theory up until then. Phoenix is an incredible machine, and we had had simulations, life fire practices, but we still had no real knowledge of how well it would perform under a real firefight.

I know I’m giving orders, the information is in my brain, but that slowing down of time means I can’t hear my own words Jason is firing missiles buit all I can focus on is the swift, inexorable march of the incoming enemy ordinance. 

Will we fall our first time out? 

I watch Tiny’s fingers move on the control panel, and he is pushing levers and I can only hope he is fast enough to outfly and out manouver the missiles. That the countermeasures launched by Jason will be effective. 

My own personal time is crawling.

It’s agonisingly slow and incredibly fast all at the same time. The oncoming missiles are moving far too swiftly whilst inside Phoenix we are moving far too slowly to effectively counterattack.

Or so it seems to my eyes.

With a snap everything comes back into focus and Tiny’s hands are a blur as he proves his Mastery of our great warbird.

With seemingly no effort, Phoenix dances away from the missiles and Jason’s countermeasures ensure that they blow harmlessly.

We turn for our own attack run and I give the order to transform. Once again time slows down as we become Firey Phoenix delivering our own swift, inexorable death.

In its own way, it’s merciful. We know our actions will kill the enemy aboard that mecha. But it will be a swift, almost painless death as our fire vaporises them. As Phoenix cries her death cry, triumphant and mourning lives lost at the same time. 

And we succeed. Not really understanding what we had done, how we had done. And yet knowing that at any time our own deaths could come. 

Praying that we remain swift enough to prevent that future.

We must not fail.


End file.
